Variable density query engine

ABSTRACT

Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to search engines and provide a novel and non-obvious method, system and computer program product for a variable density query engine. In an embodiment of the invention, a search engine data processing system can be provided. The system can include a content index, and a variable density search engine coupled to the content index. The variable density search engine can include program code enabled to vary a density of entries in a result set according to a varying size of the result set. In this regard, in one aspect of the embodiment, the density can range from a title for each entry in the result set to a full textual description for each entry in the result set to an audiovisual element for each entry in the result set.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to the field of content searching and moreparticularly to results presentation in a query engine.

2. Description of the Related Art

Information systems such as database systems have fulfilled asubstantial role in computing from the start. From the most basic datadriven application, to complex database management systems, end usershave always benefited from the ability to cull a subset of desired datafrom a large corpus of data based upon one or more search terms. Largelydue to the efficiency and speed of database systems, whole industrieshave experienced dramatic gains in efficiency based upon the ability toretrieve desired record sets from vast collections of data.

The advent of the Internet has further accelerated the adoption ofinformation systems among the consuming public. Prior to the wide-scaleadoption of Internet based computing, database systems could be accessedand utilized only by a select group of users and the available contentfor consumption naturally was limited to that which could be provided bythe select group of users. The explosion of the Internet through thedeployment of the World Wide Web, however, lifted the intrinsic barrierto content contribution resulting in a literal sea of information.

The World Wide Web has resulted in such a volume of content availablefor viewing over the Internet, that in the absence of search enginetechnologies, users would be unable to locate content of interest.Fortunately, the development of search engine technology provides anintuitive mechanism for locating content of interest in response tobasic boolean queries. Advanced forms of the search engine provide fornatural language searching thereby eliminating the need for users toformulate complex boolean query strings. Nevertheless, depending uponthe nature of a particular query, the result set produced by the querycan be of little help and the onus of developing an effective querystring for content of interest remains with the end user.

All search engines respond to query strings in the same way. The querystring is parsed, interpreted and applied against a database of knowncontent to produce a result set. The result set typically is renderedwithin one or more Web pages, each result in the result set beinghyperlinked to corresponding content. Obviously, the broader the querystring, the more results that will be presented in the result set.Differentiating one result from the next in the result set, therefore,can be challenging and can defeat the intent of the search. Furthermore,the iterative refinement of the query string to reduce the size of theresult set to a manageable few results can be tedious at best. Ofcourse, for each search iteration, the query string must be transmittedto the search engine, processed, and a new result set rendered in thecontent browser for viewing by the end user.

Notably, the display or information density of descriptive informationin a result in a result set can vary by user preference from searchengine to search engine. For many commercial search engine embodiments,the density of information can range from a mere hyperlink tocorresponding content, to an abstract and photos pertaining to thecorresponding content. In all cases, however, once a density level hasbeen selected by an end user, all results in a result set will providethe same level of information density, irrespective of the quality ofthe query string or the volume of results in a result set. Accordingly,selecting too dense a setting will produce too many Web pages for toomany results thereby defeating the ability of the end user to quicklydigest the result set. Conversely, too sparse a setting will produce toolittle information so that a cursory inspection of the results in theresult set will not help the end user in refining the search terms inthe query string.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art inrespect to search engines and provide a novel and non-obvious method,system and computer program product for a variable density query engine.In an embodiment of the invention, a search engine data processingsystem can be provided. The system can include a content index, and avariable display density search engine coupled to the content index. Thevariable display density search engine can include program code enabledto vary a display density of entries in a result set according to avarying size of the result set. In this regard, in one aspect of theembodiment, the density can range from a title for each entry in theresult set to a full textual description for each entry in the resultset to an audiovisual element for each entry in the result set.

In another embodiment of the invention, a variable density queryprocessing method can be provided. The method can include receiving aquery string for processing against a keyword searchable content index,and processing the query string to produce a result set of entries forthe query string. The method further can include computing a result setsize for the result set, determining a density corresponding to thecomputed result set size, and limiting each entry in the result set tothe determined density. Finally, the method can include rendering theresult set. Notably, the method can include modifying the query string.As such, responsive to modifying the query string, the modified querystring can be processed to produce a of entries in a different resultset. Thereafter, a result set size can be computed for the differentresult set a new density can be determined corresponding to the computedresult set size. Finally, each entry in the different result set can belimited to the determined density and the different result set can berendered.

Additional aspects of the invention will be set forth in part in thedescription which follows, and in part will be obvious from thedescription, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The aspectsof the invention will be realized and attained by means of the elementsand combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims. It isto be understood that both the foregoing general description and thefollowing detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only andare not restrictive of the invention, as claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute partof this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention andtogether with the description, serve to explain the principles of theinvention. The embodiments illustrated herein are presently preferred,it being understood, however, that the invention is not limited to theprecise arrangements and instrumentalities shown, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a search engine data processingsystem configured to perform a variable density search;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating a process for variable densitysearching; and,

FIG. 3 is a pictorial illustration of a search engine configured forvariable density searching.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention provide a method, system andcomputer program product for variable density searching in a searchengine. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, asearch engine interface can be provided. Query strings can be providedthrough the search engine interface and query results of variabledensity can be provided through the search engine interface responsiveto the entry of query characters through the search engine interface. Inthis regard, as additional characters are provided in a query string, asearch can be performed against a search engine database and a resultset can be rendered. The informational density of each entry in theresult set, however, can increase as the result set narrows in size. Inthis way, end users can more quickly ascertain the effectiveness of aquery string in order to better tailor the query string in real time toproduce a desired result set.

In further illustration, FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a searchengine data processing system configured to perform a variable densitysearch. The system can include a host computing platform 120 configuredfor coupling to one or more client computing platforms 110 over acomputer communications network 130. The host computing platform 120 caninclude a content index 140 having stored thereon data recordspertaining to keyword searchable content disposed about the computercommunications network 130. In this regard, the content index 140 can bea keyword searchable index produced in consequence of Web crawlingactivities as it is well-known in the art.

Notably, a variable density search engine 200 can be coupled to the hostcomputing platform 120 and to the content index 140. The variabledensity search engine 200 can include program code enabled to processquery strings as keyword search requests against the content index 140.The keyword search requests can range from single word query strings tomulti-word query strings processed according to boolean operators tonatural language strings. The program code can be further enabled toprovide a result set of result entries in response to receipt of a querystring or any portion thereof.

Importantly, unlike conventional search engine logic, the program codeof the variable density search engine 200 can be enabled to tailor thedensity of each entry in the result set according to the number ofentries in the result set. For large result sets, the density of eachentry can be limited to a title or basic hyperlink to correspondingcontent. For medium result sets, the density of each entry can includenot only a title and hyperlink, but also some descriptive text. Finally,for very small result sets, the density of each entry can be lessrestricted and can include not only a full textual description of thecontent corresponding to the entry, but also multimedia elements such asimagery and audio. In all cases, however, the density of the entries inthe result set can change dynamically in response to the productionrefined result sets produced in response to the addition of charactersin the query string.

In further illustration, FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating a processfor variable density searching. The process can begin in block 210 inwhich a query string fragment can be received. The fragment can rangefrom a character or characters to complete words or boolean expressions.Regardless, in block 220, the query fragment can be processed against acontent index to generate a result set. In block 230, the result set canbe retrieved and the size of the result set can be computed in block240. In block 250, a preferred density can be determined based upon thecomputed size of the result set. Thereafter, in block 260, thedetermined density can be applied to the entries of the result set andrendered for review by an end user. Finally, in decision block 270, ifthe search has completed, the process can end in block 280. Otherwise,the process can repeat through block 210.

End users can interact with the variable density search engine through adefined user interface. In reference to FIG. 3 the user interface 310can include a text input field 320 into which a query string 330 can bespecified. The entries of a result set 350 produced through theprocessing the query string 330 can be provided in a results frame 340.As it will be apparent from the exemplary user interface sequence ofFIG. 3, for large result sets, the density of entries in the result set350 can be reduced. Notwithstanding, as the query string 330 is refined,the density of the entries in the result set 350 can be increased, evento include audio and visual elements as illustrated in the exemplaryuser interface sequence of FIG. 3.

Embodiments of the invention can take the form of an entirely hardwareembodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment containingboth hardware and software elements. In a preferred embodiment, theinvention is implemented in software, which includes but is not limitedto firmware, resident software, microcode, and the like. Furthermore,the invention can take the form of a computer program product accessiblefrom a computer-usable or computer-readable medium providing programcode for use by or in connection with a computer or any instructionexecution system.

For the purposes of this description, a computer-usable or computerreadable medium can be any apparatus that can contain, store,communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by or inconnection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.The medium can be an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic,infrared, or semiconductor system (or apparatus or device) or apropagation medium. Examples of a computer-readable medium include asemiconductor or solid state memory, magnetic tape, a removable computerdiskette, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), arigid magnetic disk and an optical disk. Current examples of opticaldisks include compact disk-read only memory (CD-ROM), compactdisk-read/write (CD-R/W) and DVD.

A data processing system suitable for storing and/or executing programcode will include at least one processor coupled directly or indirectlyto memory elements through a system bus. The memory elements can includelocal memory employed during actual execution of the program code, bulkstorage, and cache memories which provide temporary storage of at leastsome program code in order to reduce the number of times code must beretrieved from bulk storage during execution. Input/output or I/Odevices (including but not limited to keyboards, displays, pointingdevices, etc.) can be coupled to the system either directly or throughintervening I/O controllers. Network adapters may also be coupled to thesystem to enable the data processing system to become coupled to otherdata processing systems or remote printers or storage devices throughintervening private or public networks. Modems, cable modem and Ethernetcards are just a few of the currently available types of networkadapters.

1. A search engine data processing system comprising: a content index;and, a variable density search engine coupled to the content index, thevariable density search engine comprising program code enabled to vary adensity of entries in a result set according to a varying size of theresult set.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the density ranges from atitle for each entry in the result set to a full textual description foreach entry in the result set.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein thedensity ranges from a title for each entry in the result set to a fulltextual description in addition to an audiovisual element for each entryin the result set.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein the content indexis a keyword searchable content index.
 5. The system of claim 1, furthercomprising a Web crawler configured to produce the content index. 6.(canceled)
 7. (canceled)
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 9. (canceled)
 10. (canceled) 11.(canceled)
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